TitanCon Belfast - Sat 24 Sept 2011

[Blizzard]

I've just seen on Twitter that Jackie's put up a video of Jo's Dothraki rap, for those who might be curious (some of the lyrics may be NSFW).

http://www.youtube.c...u/0/g61cXVw02lE

Those videos were pretty good, too bad there wasn't any more room for more people or I would have went deffinately

[Maistjarnan]

Just want to add my thanks to the comitee for organising this amazing con. It really was a lot of fun (even walking through the rain on Sunday) and I will be around next year, for sure. I'll probably upload some pictures to flickr or so later but I just got home and am very very tired. ;)

@Pod: I think, I was the German in the Pub on Sunday evening. ;)

[WinterChild]

Congrats on a brilliant con! Unfortunately I had to leave early on Saturday so missed the masquerade (by the way are there any videoes of Sophie and Maisie doing the moonwalk?!). But the panels were really interesting and enjoyable.

Looking forward to titancon 2012 :) !

[Uvatha]

Very hard to make out what she is saying :( does anyone have a (stamping) edited version for those of us unable to make the event? Or panel? - in case of volunteers who missed the original??? Being as I am a Dothraki Lord (well actually a Nazgul horselord - but who is splitting hairs - I imagine a few will)..please tell!

[Padraig]

@Pod: I think, I was the German in the Pub on Sunday evening. ;)

Probably. :P

I'm glad all you people will fondly remember the authentic Irish experience of walking through the rain!

[Axechucker]

FaBio here (formerly About Yea High),

Just put up a new Day One Pictures post at Winter Is Coming!

Wanted to pop by and thank the BwBers who helped make TitanCon so freaking awesome. Jo, Ser Mountain Goat, Peadar, Qthulhu, Dennai, Rimshot... more that I'm off-the-cuff forgetting, I'm sure.

So freaking good. I'm from California, so that day two rain was EPIC.

If Ran or Linda can make it next year---DOUBLE EPIC.

If Parris makes it---TRIPLE EPIC!

If none of them come---well, Pod, we all know whose fault that is.

[dreximgirl]

Just popping in to add my 'it was awesome' comments! Really did have a great time, volunteering was fun if tiring and the Sunday tour was fab even with the rain. Spoke to so many people over the course of the weekend (volunteering really did help with people recognising me lol) and Sunday evening in the pub was a nice chilled end to the whole thing.

Back home now and suffering from con flu (otherwise known as sinusitis - note for anybody who has a head cold DO NOT fly, it feels like your head will explode. Was not a pleasant journey home)

Anyway I can't wait for next year!

Lis x

[Qthulhu]

I'm from California, so that day two rain was EPIC.

"So guys, what do you call this stuff again? Rain? Am I saying that right?"

:D

[Pebble thats Stubby]

If Parris does come next year then it will trebble the awesumness of the Con. Especially if Parris is also on a Pannel or two. :thumbsup:

I also want to thank the totally evil and dispicable guys who brought the mountain of yummy gourgous creamy rich luxuriant chocolate to the dead dog party. I love you guys you are awesum. Those 60 odd bars must have cost you a fortune. Thankyou. :drool:

[MuthaHydra / Lord Jo]

Very hard to make out what she is saying :( does anyone have a (stamping) edited version for those of us unable to make the event? Or panel? - in case of volunteers who missed the original??? Being as I am a Dothraki Lord (well actually a Nazgul horselord - but who is splitting hairs - I imagine a few will)..please tell!

We will be at a fair few cons over the next year or so - including octocon, Novocon, Eastercon and Worldcon in Chicago next year. So get yourself to a con, lady ;) The Dothraki Death Metal band will be performing at Eastercon and Cd's will be available in the future ;)

[Isandregil]

Joe plus mead was the best idea ever, it's just a shame he wasn't in costume.

I really wish I could have sat in on the extras panel and shared some anecdotes but sadly I had too much stuff to get signed and noone to proxy for me.

Noone got enough mead, I need to correct that next year!! Giant was looking wobbly after his, haha. I felt bad for the Irish folks who asked me at the after-feast party if I had any left, they need to grab me earlier!

Was anyone on the other table at the feast? There was mead floating around Miltos and Kristian's table but a disturbing lack of raucous behaviour. We got through 3 on our side with the help of a couple from NJ and some blogger types : D

We'll make sure we have more mead for next time, and I'll remember to bring the brandubh set next time as well, maybe some heather ale too. I'll sort out some nice flintwork or obsidian for whoever racks up the most brandubh wins, yourself excluded :)

And yeah, this is Morchaint :) Much as I like the translation of the name in Sindarin, the gaelic translation is less than appealing :)

[Qthulhu]

We'll make sure we have more mead for next time ... maybe some heather ale too. I'll sort out some nice flintwork or obsidian for whoever racks up the most brandubh wins

I FOR ONE APPROVE, caps completely justified.

[theMountainGoat]

There are some people not getting enough credit for the success of TitanCon and that's totally my fault for not making sure they got name checked at the closing ceremony. We were running late and I wanted to make sure we were ready for the evening activities. It's no excuse. In fact I made a lot of mistakes right in that little pressure cooker of time so I wanted to apologise to those people and make sure they get the credit they deserve here.

So don't thank me thank them.

-theMountainGoat

Committee

Ian Lawther - co-chair and cornerstone of TitanCon. He fronted the money for most of the convention, arranged the venue at a massive discount price for us, dealt with the insurance policy, arranged the photographer, went out during the day to get the photographs printed and also worked his ass off alongside me staying up till nearly 4 am and getting up to start work at 6 am on the Saturday morning. TitanCon would not have existed without the hard work and dedication of Ian.

Logan Bruce - Treasurer and well to be honest as much of a co-chair as Ian or myself were. The great variety of guests and workshops we had at TitanCon was down to the hard work of Bruce and he also arranged all of the Culture Night events for us and made sure the Skype session stayed connected. He also secured the National Lottery Arts Council grant of £4000 without which TitanCon would have been a financial failure. TitanCon would not have existed without Bruce.

Silverjaime - Secretary and organiser of awesome feasts. I don't think Silverjaime will ever forgive me for throwing extra people at her feast but I have to say she really did an incredible job with securing the venue, the caterer and arranging all the little details that made the feast such a pleasure. Silverjaime also took on guest liaison duties throughout the day and organised the signing. Simply put TitanCon would not have existed without Silverjaime.

Volunteer team

TitanCon would have also been a complete failure without the hard work of our incredible volunteer team who went above and beyond the call of duty. So in no particular order please thank these people:

Heather Lennox - was on reception almost the entire day, barely taking a break and also assisted with set up at the feast on Sunday

Dawn Lennox - was also on reception for almost the entire day and helped take donations during the photography session.

Victoria Stuart - another heroic effort on reception for almost the entire day.

Claire Carswell - more stellar work on reception figuring out how to use my database and label printer.

Dreximgirl - another of our great reception workers on both Friday and Saturday. Months ago she had posted on Westeros to say she was a little bit shy about volunteering to help but she still turned up to help on Friday morning when I sent a tweet to say "come to this hotel room and help us". She did and was a hero for us going on lunch runs and more for us.

Adz of CCAA - yet another incredible job on reception on both Friday and Saturday, and all that with English not as her first language.

Pebble - originally Pebble was going to be on reception but we needed someone to laminate blank member badges for us so she got stuck in an office out the back laminating dozens and dozens of badges and lucky for us she did because we ended up with only 7 left over at the end.

Rabbit - Rabbit helped with set up putting up the room signs and direction arrows around the hotel. Rabbit also sold raffle tickets for us during the signing so a huge amount of the money we raised was due to her hard work.

Luke Bannon - We used and abused Luke something awful on Saturday morning, first being sent out to buy PC microphones for the 99 minute film school via Skype and then straight out again afterwards to buy the raffle tickets I forgot the day before. A real trooper for the cause.

Stephen de Meulemeester - Another of The Other Ones pressed into a thankless task on Saturday minding the service entrance door in the morning and various other tasks throughout the day.

Mark Lamki - Took on security duties up around Castle Black and The Eyrie on Saturday morning and helped the photography sessions run smoothly minding the door, the queue and taking donations.

Malcolm Hutchison - Ran the pub crawl for us on Friday and helped with set up work on Saturday morning.

Qthullu - It was Qthullu's idea to go into the chip shop on the pub crawl and I think everyone appreciated the opportunity for food. Also thanks for saying a few words at Castle Ward about filming at Winterfell. And the MEAD.

Giant of Lannister - Worked security for us on Saturday and was part of our volunteer team helping out at Castle Ward on the Sunday. Also thanks for saying a few words at Castle Ward about filming at Winterfell.

Game of Thrones Joe - Not only was he on stage for the Water Dancing he also got everyone up dancing at the party and also helped out with security earlier in the day. Also a huge thank you for the promo video which was hilariously brilliant!

Ezeqiel - Also worked on door security for us.

EdricStorm - Yet another of our security guys.

Uvatha - Uvatha and his wife ran some security for us and also helped with set up.

Captain Lucy - Helped with the set up work in the morning and security and other jobs through the day.

Renate - from Germany for making the fantastic banners that adorned our hall.

Stephanie - for bringing the banners over on Friday and for the Haribo at a time of great need.

Jane Stewart - Silverjaime's friend who helped set up the banners Saturday morning and did an incredible job even though she had not technically volunteered at all. Thanks Jane.

Pod - Climbed the enormous high ladder to put up the banners first thing in the morning.

MC Geek - Climbed the enormous high ladder in the evening to take the banners down.

Johan Sporre - For awesome tablecloth folding skills during the evening pack up, great job.

Maltaran - For morning set up and queue management throughout the day.

Williamjm - More morning set up help and assistance during the day.

Marc Addison and Diarmuid McCreesh - for being on our Extras panel, keep up the good work.

Samantha Hirst - Sam was also on the Extras panel, she helped on reception, was involved in panel assistance, guest liaison and helped out with the stationary shop on Friday, great job Sam.

JacMac30 - I really should not have singled out Jackie alone for praise on Saturday but she did do an incredible job for us with the stationary shop and solved two of our last minute problems with printing and sourcing art boards with just hours to spare.

Barry and Sid - thanks to my friends Barry and Sid for giving up their time to help with printing and laminating the membership badges the weekend before TitanCon.

Rimshot - A pity he could not be there all day but Rimshot did arrange the Extras panel for us and arranged for his brother to provide the audio and PA for us. Also thanks for saying a few words at Castle Ward about filming at Winterfell.

Damian - Rimshot's brother who did an incredible job for us with the PA despite last minute additions to our requirements and being called back while he was having dinner to set up the microphones for Wireless Mystery Theatre.

Lots more groups and organisations to thank:

Wireless Mystery Theatre - a huge thank you to WMT for their performance on Saturday night.

Arkham Gaming Centre - another huge thank you to Phil Barnhill and the guys from Arkham for running the wargaming at TitanCon.

TableTopNorth - one more huge thank you to Gary Bingham and TTN who ran the RPGs and Star Trek mega game for us despite the space not being properly set up for it beforehand.

Dealers - we had 11 fantastic dealers and I believe they all had a good day making enough money to make it worth their while so thanks to all of you for coming along.

Guards! Guards! - a massive thank you to Leonard Boyd and David Brashaw for choosing to launch their game at TitanCon. They were huge supporters and advertisers on Twitter leading up to the event, thanks guys.

Following the Nerd - thanks to FTN for covering TitanCon.

Winter-is-Coming - another thank you for their immense coverage and bigging up of TitanCon.

Fan Favourites - for assistance and encouragement.

BBC Radio Ulster - for inviting Ian and myself as guests on their Arts Extra programme on Thursday evening and giving us plenty of support and coverage as well.

Belfast Newsletter - for coverage leading up to TitanCon.

Belfast Telegraph - for an article on TitanCon.

Irish News - again for an article on TitanCon.

Jessops Belfast - for looking after us with the photograph printing and sign printing at the last minute on Friday.

Kaizen Print, Belfast - for printing all of our postcard advertising for us.

Belfast Printers - for the fantastic programme, they pulled out all the stops providing another designer to work through the night for us when the original designer had a death in the family on Wednesday.

Tobin of Blackmajik Designs, Florida, USA - for the cover artwork used on the programme. Yes that's Tobin from Westeros.

Turner Signs, Idaho Falls, USA - for printing the TitanCon banner for us.

Hodges Badge Company, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, USA - for the TitanCon ribbons used as advertising at Worldcon.

Potato Bred, Belfast - for the last minute supply of Art Boards.

Culture Night Belfast - for letting us be a part of their massive citywide event.

Joe Curran - for finalising the details of the walking tour which Bruce led on Friday evening.

McHughs - for the perfect venue for our Friday night event, just the right ambiance for the readings.

Bar 12, The Crescent - for providing us with somewhere to meet regularly, hold our committee meetings and was also a great venue for our press launch in early September.

Europa Hotel - for supplying an incredible venue and providing support and assistance throughout the day, even when we kept pushing beyond the bounds of our agreement with special requests and the times we were in some of the rooms. A huge thank you to all the Europa event staff.

Castle Ward (National Trust) - for providing a venue for our feast on Sunday and letting us come in and set up events all over the place. Also thank you to the owners of the Castle Ward cafe for shelter from the rain.

Caterers Andy Mulholland of The Plough, Hilsborough - for providing the delicious hog roast and for the serving girls being willing to get dressed up in medieval serving garb, thank you.

Belfast Bus Company - for two very friendly drivers willing to drive us around all day and go that extra distance to make the coach tour a success, thank you guys.

Wyvernwood - for planning the walking tour of Tollymore Forest even though he was away on a business trip and missed it, thanks Martin.

Tollymore Forest Rangers - for setting us off in the right direction from the car park in Tollymore Forest.

SCA - thanks to Paul O'Brien from the SCA for the archery demonstrations on Sunday. Don't forget to sign up for more information if you're interested, there is an SCA group near you somewhere in the world.

Clan Ulaidh - not sure that's spelled correctly but thanks to the guys for coming down to put on the combat demonstration for us on Sunday and bringing those big shields specially for the occasion.

Lord Jo Favourite Spearwife - for getting Clan Ulaidh involved, for fighting with an axe, taking bruises in the name of entertainment, for the Dothraki singing and simply bringing the fun.

Masqueraders - thanks to all of our Masquerade entries who worked so hard with such short notice, the masquerade was an awesome success because of you.

Morchant - from Ancient Edge Reproductions/Irish Archaeological Research Ltd for donating the beautiful obsidan arrowhead which we awarded to the winner of the masquerade and for a slice of history at Inch Abbey during the Sunday coach tour.

Not forgetting our guests:

Peader Ó Guilín - for incredible presenting work not only at the masquerade but on panels throughout the day.

Maisie Williams and Sophie Turner - for being such incredible sports throughout the day with the long photo and signing sessions, and then being such great judges at the masquerade and still coming back later on to pick raffle winners and dancing the night away. Simply awesome in every way.

Kristian Nairn - for kind words and being a wonderful guest. And also for putting up with the rain on Sunday - even if he should know what the local weather can be like!

Miltos Yerolemou - for flying out late Friday and then back to London at 4 am on Monday ready for rehearsals for One Flew Over the Cuckoo Nest at the Leicester Curve in Leicester - get yourself there and see it if you can!

Art Parkinson - thanks to Art and all his family for coming on both Saturday and Sunday. I know they had a great time and really enjoyed it.

Callum Wharry - thanks to Callum and his family for coming down Saturday afternoon. I intended to ask how Callum did in the football match that morning but never got round to it. Good luck for the rest of the season.

Aimee Richardson - and family for all their help even though only Aimee's dad could make it on the day, I know Aimee really wanted to be there but was filming in Croatia instead, next year Aimee.

William Simpson - for being a great guest and willing to give up one of his precious day's off for us.

Ben Hawkey and Eros Vlahos - for not being too freaked out when I fan stalked them on Wednesday evening at the Europa Hotel (OK they were a lot freaked out, sorry about that). They had flights home on Thursday, shame they could not stick around.

Also a huge thank you to the many many Game of Thrones cast members (who have to remain nameless, sorry folks) that wanted to be at TitanCon but could not because their schedule would not allow it. Hopefully next year we'll have a proper reunion with all of you!

Ian McDonald - for being the perfect Guest of Honour. He was so good at our opening ceremony getting the crowd worked up brilliantly and his guest of honour speech was great even though I had to cut it short without the 5 minute warning since I was running late right then. Sorry about that and thanks for everything.

T.A. Moore - for being another great guest, thanks Tammy.

Gerard Brennan - for moderating his first ever panel, I hope it was a great experience.

Joeleen Ballance and her zombie volunteer - Joeleen did an incredible make up job with the zombie and also with the cuts and bruises for the realism in fiction panel.

Andy Luke and Paddy Brown - for the comic and sequential art workshop, great job guys.

George Clarke - for being a guest at TitanCon even though he is in the middle of shooting his new movie.

Elliot Grove - for the 99 Minute Film School via Skype. Everyone who attended said it was absolutely brilliant so thank you for that.

Jim Corr - for being an incredible photographer on the day and coming in at the last minute when our original photographer went down ill on Friday.

Neil Stringer - for filming the making of TitanCon documentary, good luck with the editing process!

The Other Ones - for all their assistance throughout the entire process of this convention.

Studio NI - another shout out for Bruce and all his help.

Brotherhood Without Banners - for support and allowing us to take this idea and run with it - even if Stego thought we would quit long ago.

National Lottery Arts Council - for funding without which we would have been a financial failure, massive thank you for your support.

HBO - for the best television shows in the world.

Parris Martin - for sending us such awesome prizes and all the wonderful support.

George RR Martin - for everything.

[Uvatha]

So get yourself to a con, lady )

Lady? Not last time I checked - my bbe would confirm that :) Alas as we're getting married next year - expenses are tight and we won't make another con till next years Titancon :(

[Peadar]

Great list, Phil!

[MuthaHydra / Lord Jo]

Lady? Not last time I checked

Oops - aplogise for the assumed gender role - I wasn't actually slagging you buy calling you a girl either - novel for me :)

A real Dothraki/Nazgul horselord ? For actually real ( by which I mean you can ride and kill people with metal weaponry ) ? We will definately have to meet and have at it :fencing:

Phil - well done on the extensive list. Massive props to everyone for pulling off a terrific wekkend ;) Bigger, better, faster , more ?

[lanky316]

Well seeing on Sunday that people were abseiling down the side of the Europa Hotel, might I suggest that for next year the committee get hold of a replica of the Wall and attach that to the side and have people, in wildling costume, climb it before unveiling a huge banner with "Titancon 2012" down the side of the building. I know it's a book (and presumably season) early but it seems fitting.

What do you mean it's out of budget?

[Pebble thats Stubby]

A link to my totally unedited Titancon Pics

[Maistjarnan]

Here are some of my pictures. Unfortunately, most of them are either too dark or blurry. :( http://s1177.photobucket.com/albums/x347/Maistjarnan/

[theMountainGoat]

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